Dellinger considers Heller as a win for Gura and Scalia. Gura for his abilities and arguments, and Scalia for the opportunity to write such a big and important opinion on a subject that hadn’t really been addressed.

Dellinger’s argument is ridiculous. The idea that the Second Amendment means you can only have a gun if you are in some kind of government military service is like claiming that the right to free speech in the First Amendment only protects you from infringement of that right by Congress (“Congress shall make no law…”), and that any other branch of government has carte blanche to restrict speech.

But of course the First Amendment right to freedom of speech is interpreted much more broadly as limiting all government in the United States from restricting that right. A correct interpretation of the Second Amendment likewise understands that it restricts all government in the United States from infringing the right to keep and bear arms.